Try To Fight It
by lit1586
Summary: Aria and Ezra meet for the first time on Aria's first day back in Rosewood. Can they fight their attraction? Probably 3 Chapters but not sure.
1. Chapter 1

"Marin, Hanna?" Ezra called attendance with a certain amount of pride and excitement. It was his first day at Rosewood High; his first day as a real teacher with real students to mark absent or present. He had been imagining this day for the past 3 months when he first found out he had gotten the job. Now it was here and nothing could ruin his mood.

"Here." He heard Hanna reply with much less enthusiasm than he.

"Great." He checked her name with a smirk and moved to the next student. "Okay. Mongomery, Aria?" There was silence, except for small whispers that rustled through the class. "No Aria?"

At that moment the classroom door swung open. "That's me. I'm here." A grim voice spoke. He thought he heard her mumble the word 'unfortunately' at that end of it as he looked in her direction.

She was already retreating to the back of the classroom. Her long hair flowed to the middle of her back and was such a dark, chocolate brown that he could have mistaken it for black. She was thin and dressed in dark, muted colors. Ezra bit his lip subconsciously as he noticed the way her jeans fit her curves just right.

He cleared this throat. "Take a seat please, Miss. Montgomery". He told her trying to sound stern. He knew if he let a student get away with be late on his first day, it would set a bad example for everyone else. "I expect you to be on time every day. Can I see you after class, please."

Aria found an empty desk and spun around to take a seat. Her doe-like eyes connected with his and she felt her breath catch in her throat. "Um yea. Sorry." She frowned and averted her eyes to an empty page of her notebook.

Ezra stared at her for probably a little too long before coming back to reality. "Okay. Moving on. Matthews, Craig?"

After finishing the attendance, Ezra decided that the real heavy learning could be saved for the second day of school. First days were for getting to know each other. He spent most of the period telling the class about himself and what they would be learning this year. He also spent most of the time trying not to look at Aria Montgomery.

Ezra then went around the room and asked each student to tell him a little about themselves. It was something he always hated doing in school, but he wanted something to pass the time. He asked each student to tell him their name, something they like to do and their favorite ice cream flavor.

Aria shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She hated when teacher did this kind of stuff. Everyone in this classroom has known each other since kindergarten. If they didn't know about each other by now, they never would. But she couldn't help but smile as she listened to her friends' responses.

"I'm Spencer. I'm your classic over achiever and my favorite ice cream is vanilla with chocolate sauce."

"My name is Hanna. I am a shop-a-holic and I don't eat ice cream because it's too fattening. I do like to indulge in some strawberry fro-yo every now and then though."

"My name is Emily. I'm on the swim team and my favorite ice cream is Rocky Road."

Now it was Aria's turn. She really never knew what to say about herself, so she pretended that she didn't know it was her turn and kept writing in her notebook. Ezra cleared his throat as he let his eyes finally fall on her. He had been trying his best not to look at her all period and now was his chance to do so without suspicious glances. "Aria?"

"Hmm?" She looked up at him with false confusion.

He smirked slightly. "Can you tell me a little about yourself?"

"Oh. Yea. " She fiddled with her pencil. "My name is Aria, as you know cause you just said it…" She heard a round of laughter from the class, than shrugged. "There's not really much to tell."

Ezra bit his lip, once again secretly admiring her. "Well…" He walked down her aisle and leaned against an empty desk diagonal from hers, "What do you like to do for fun? If you're sitting at home on a Monday night, homework done, of course, what are doing?"

Aria stared up at him, "I guess I'm writing." She admitted. It was something she enjoyed doing, but not something that she often shared with anyone; especially her classmates. Her writing was typically reserved for her laptop's eyes only.

Ezra lifted an eyebrow. "You write?" This girl was becoming too good to be true; Beautiful and a writer.

"Yeah. I mean. Not a lot. Just when I have free time and I'm feeling inspired." She explained.

For a moment he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Her round, hazel eyes felt like they were piercing through him. It took him a second to realize that he was staring too long and it was probably looking pretty creepy at this point.

He cleared his throat, "What was the other part of the question?" He asked the class. As he turned to walk back towards his desk, Aria admired the way his butt looked in her dress pants.

"Ice cream." A random set of voice replied.

"Right. How could I forget?" He nodded and motioned to Aria, whos eyes snapped up in the hopes that no one noticed.

"Coffee. I like coffee ice cream." She spat out quickly as the bell rang to signal the end of class.

"Wow. Time flies." Ezra noted, "If we didn't get to you yet we will finish tomorrow." The class had already began to gather their and were half way out the door by the time he finished talking. "Aria, don't forget to come see me."

Aria nodded and headed to the front of the room as the final few students crowed out the door. "I'm really sorry Mr. Fitz. I'm usually on time but I just moved back from Iceland and I'm a little off schedule."

"Iceland? What were you doing there?" He wondered with intrigue, seeming to totally forget the fact that she was late for his class.

"My dad had to go there for work for a year." She shifted uncomfortable knowing that work was not the only part of the reason, her family also wanted to get her away from all of the Alison drama.

His eyes lit up even more. "That's amazing. I've visited before. It's beautiful there."

Aria smiled at his excitement, "Yeah. It is. I miss it. Rosewood doesn't quit measure up."

"Well, I'm sure you'll find something worth your while here." He meant to sound positive and encouraging, but his voice sounded more flirty than he had intended.

Aria's eyes drifted to Ezra's lips and she suddenly felt the urge to plant a long, intense kiss on them.

Ezra noticed the direction of her gaze and quickly spoke, "I mean catching up with old friends and getting back into school, of course…."

"Right. Of course." She nodded in agreement, clutching her books to her chest.

"I should really get going." Ezra announced suddenly, moving towards the door, "I've only got twenty minutes before my next class and I hear it can be a fight for the copy machine. I'll see you tomorrow Aria. Bye."

With that Ezra Fitz disappeared into the crowed hallway without so much as a paper in his hand to bring to the copier. This did not go unnoticed by Aria, who couldn't help but smile


	2. Chapter 2

"So, what did you think of Mr. Fitz?" Hanna was ready to gossip as all three girls sat eating their lunch at one of the outdoor tables that Rosewood had added for the new school year.

"He was cute." Spencer shrugged before taking a scoop of her yogurt.

Emily shrugged, "I really didn't notice."

"How could you not notice? He's hot." Hanna scolded her friends for their lack of enthusiasm, "I mean he won't be posing for Abercrombie anytime soon, but he's certainly nice to look at for a period. What did you think Aria?"

"Yea. He's hot, I guess." Aria agreed, not wanting to seem too interested in the conversation. If only her friends knew exactly what she felt about Mr. Fitz.

"Well, I think he liked you." Hanna pointed out, dipping a carrot stick into her dressing.

Aria almost choked on her sandwich, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm serious. I'm very observant when it comes to this stuff. He was staring at you all class."

"You're crazy. He's our teacher." Aria forced a laugh outwardly, but inside her stomach was doing flips. She liked the fact that he was looking at her.

"He's a 22 year old guy, Aria. Not a 60 year old geezer on the verge of retiring." Hanna rolled her eyes

Aria shook her head, as if to tell her friend she was totally off base. "Can we talk about something in reality now?" She asked and the other girls agreed.

Aria breathed a sigh of relief as the girls went on to talk about how much they hated their calculus teacher, Mrs. Dugan. She nodded in agreement to their complaints, while staring absent mindedly across the courtyard. Just inside, she could see a line of people wait to get their lunch and smack in the middle of that line was Mr. Fitz.

He looked almost as lost and out of place as the freshman. She guessed that he didn't realize that the teachers don't generally enter the cafeteria with the students. They tend to bring their own lunch or order out and eat in the teacher's lounge.

Ezra looked out the window in an attempt to seem busy, but was shocked when he found Aria looking back at him. Her eyes widened and she quickly looked away, but he continued to stare. He admired her long, dark hair has it blew in gentle breeze and studied the contours of her body. It wasn't until a student poked his shoulder, that Ezra realized the line had moved quite a bit. He apologized to the people behind him and mentally reprimanded himself for thinking of a student this way. She probably thought he was a weirdo. That's why she was staring at him.

He decided that he would look back once more and she would be talking with her friends, totally unaware and uninterested in his presence. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder and out the window. But he did not see Aria enthralled in conversation; instead he found her eyes rested intently on him once again. This time she didn't look away. She held his gaze and lifted an eyebrow, almost daring him not to look away.

"What can I get for ya?" The booming voice of the cafeteria lady interrupted. Ezra was jolted back to lunch line.

"I'm so screwed." He spoke out loud to himself, unsure of what exactly was happening between him and Aria.

The lunch lady laughed, "The food's not that bad."


	3. Chapter 3

Aria hadn't been able to take her mind off of Mr. Fitz all day. She didn't know what it was about him, but she felt the over whelming urge to see him again before the day was over. So, when the final bell of the day had rung, she quickly gathered her things and headed for his classroom.

When she arrived, she found him sitting at his desk typing intensely on his laptop. The room was empty and she noticed that he had decorated his bulletin board since this morning. He had stapled up pictures of the books they would be reading throughout the year.

She knocked on the door frame, not wanting to invite herself in. He looked towards her and she could have sworn she saw his jaw tense.

"Aria. What are you doing here?" He stood from his chair. His body looked stiff and ridged.

"I'm not sure."

"You're not sure?" He repeated.

"I don't know. I mean… I know why I'm here, but I'm not sure about it." She tried to clarify. "I'm probably just being stupid."

Ezra swallowed hard, "Can you close the door?"

"Yeah." She nodded, following his direction.

"So, what's on your mind?" He asked.

"Mr. Fitz…"

"Ezra." He interrupted. It felt odd having a girl he was attracted to call him Mr. Fitz, "You can call me Ezra when we're not in class. Not just you…" he quickly added, "I mean, I would let everyone call me that, but the school frowns upon it."

She began again hesitantly, "Ezra… is there something weird going on here." She motioned back and forth between the two of them.

"Weird. Like in my classroom? I don't think so." He's voice was riddle with nerves. He could hardly believe that she had the guts to say anything to him.

"I'm serious. I've been feeling something and I just want to know if I'm crazy. And If I am, then that's fine… I'm crazy." She confessed. Aria was never one to beat around the bush. Most girls would have spent the entire school year wondering, but never asking and writing about it in their diary. Not Aria.

Ezra took a deep breath and let it out. He averted his eyes to the ground and shoved his hands in his pockets. "You're not crazy, Aria." He admitted, looking back into her eyes. "But apparently I am."

They were quiet for a second, just looking at each other. Both wanting to say more and do more than they could.

"Okay. I'll check that off as 'Good to know'." She tried to joke, breaking the silence. "I should be going now."

Ezra moved towards her, feeling so much, but holding it back. "I'm sorry that I'm your teacher." He breathed, standing so close to her that he could feel her breath.

"Me too." She whispered, grasping the door knob with her left hand for support. She began to turn the knob, but stop abruptly, "Can I just say one thing?"

"Anything."

Without another word she leaned up on her tippy toes and pressed her lips cautiously against his. He was still at first, but accepted her advance in an instant. The kiss lasted a mere 5 seconds before she pulled away. "I just wanted to know what it felt like before I try to forget."

Ezra stood in stunned silence. Everything in his body urged him to pull her back and kiss her again, this time for much longer. If she had left it alone, he may have been able to let it go, but now, after that kiss, he knew what they would be missing.

"Aria, you shouldn't have done that." His face was still only inches from hers.

"I'm sorry." Were the only words she could get out before Ezra's lips were once again intertwined with hers. He slid one arm behind her waist and pushed her gently against the wall and let his other hand rest at the nape of her neck. Her hands ran freely through his thick, black hair. They both knew what they were getting into, but neither of them cared.

Ezra couldn't help but think that this might not be the best start to his career.


End file.
